The exciting news this week is that applications opened for the Handmade Markets in Canberra. The fours dates for 2010 have been announced:
Handmade – Canberra’s quarterly Upmarket brings together talented artists, designers, stylists, craftspeople and gourmets all at one destination. It is a unique event to connect the makers of beautiful things to people who appreciate the quality, handcrafted and locally designed.
Still not having much luck with the firing. As a recap, I planned to refire a number of pieces of bronze clay which were under-fired first time around. In the same tub I included two copper clay “bags”.
This is the schedule I used.
All the copper crumbled.
As I mentioned in a previous post, these holidays I have been working my way through Hadar Jacobson’s books. I put quite a bit of work into two bracelets and they came out look like this! I wanted to give up metal clay completely. A week later I think I can talk about it… and try another firing;) I this post I outline what I did last time and what I propose for the next one.
My first order from Whole Lotta Whimsy in a couple of years arrived on Friday. It was no where near the number of items in the FMG order but two thirds the price. It contained metal clay!
Well, the coffee table actually.
One of the things I like about beading and wirework is how portable they are. Recently, no project has travelled further than the living room but it is nice to join the family and string a few beads or bend a bit of wire.
My
main projects lived on Ikea trays in the craft room. (I think they were discontinued which is why I picked them up so cheaply at Ikea Homebush a year or so ago.). Problem was I had a habit of leaving a tray on the coffee table at night and knew that with a very curious (and clumsy) cat and two boys it was only a matter of time before a project was upended and bits lost forever. I needed a more secure and less messy solution. I also wanted to be able able to work on a project with minimal fuss. I’m back at the ‘real job‘ next week and the craft time will be limited. If I am going to do anything at all it has to be easy to pcik up.
In summary, I needed the ability to store multiple projects within easy reach but out of harm’s way. Easy.
An order arrived today from Fire Mountain Gems. I had planned the contents to be my holiday entertainment but I ordered a bit late. I go back to work tomorrow:( Thankfully there are only a few days to get through and then I have another whole week of holidays to play with the stash. (Oh yes, and get the kids ready for school.)
I think it is one of the best packages I have received. One thing that struck me is that the order was mostly supplies. Very few tools. Am I running out of tools to buy? Surely not!
Given the amount in the box the postage charge wasn’t too bad, although it was more than previous orders with FMG. Shipping was USD48.35. I placed the order 9 January, it was posted 12 January and arrived in Canberra 18 January. I should have received it yesterday but I was out when FedEx visited.
Enjoy the pictures.
One of my holiday goals was to use up the open packet of bronze clay I had in the fridge. I opened it in mid 2008 and was rather pleased I had some success firing my first batch. I fired using the recommended firing schedule suggested by Rio Grande and fired in Coconut Shell-Based Activated Carbon.
This is something I made on my first attempt in 2008.
Another plan for the holidays was to concentrate on improving some skills rather than tinkering in 20 different areas so I decided to start working through Hadar Jacobson’s first book. [I bought her first and second from her at a course I attended in Sydney a couple of months ago. More on that in another time].
The main lesson from this project was that making polymer clay turquoise is rather time consuming, although I was pleased with the results. I also discovered that wire wrapping is fun. It is easy to pack and go, unlike working with clay. I made many of the wire beads while on holiday in Sydney.
